News
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
The Mercatus Center of George Mason University has released a report studying the level of freedom in the United States. They rank each state based on economic, social, and personal Freedom. Unsurprisingly NJ ranked at the bottom.
New Jersey is a highly regulated state all around, #46 on economic freedom, #45 on personal freedom, and #49 overall. Taxes and spending are high. Spending on education is particularly high. Property taxes are among the highest in the country, and individual income taxes are also high. Gun control is extensive. Marijuana laws are subpar. New Jersey has primary seat-belt enforcement, motorcycle and bicycle helmet laws, a cell phone driving ban, an open-container law, sobriety checkpoints, and mandatory liability and personal injury coverage for automobiles. Fireworks are prohibited. Asset forfeiture is largely unreformed. Cigarette taxes are stratospheric, and smoking bans are as draconian as any in the country. On the positive side, alcohol is taxed fairly reasonably, and, like Nevada, casino and slots gambling are legal statewide. More importantly, private and home school regulations are surprisingly light, extending only to broad curriculum requirements. Civil unions are also recognized. On economic regulation, labor laws are predictably costly, statewide land-use planning (“smart growth”) is in force, and there is extensive community rating for private health insurance. On other issues, however, New Jersey is about average.
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- Written by: Sean Colon
- Category: Selected Blogs
I know that this sounds like something The Onion would write as a satire in one of their articles but it is horrifyingly true. NJ officials are proposing to ban Brazilian wax jobs which are a waxing of the genital region. Why are they doing this? Because two clients were injured at a salon in NJ. Hmmmm... I guess that makes sense. I got cut shaving yesterday, they should ban that. I tripped over a curb a week ago, they should ban those.
The NJ Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling has stated that it has always been illegal though it is not stated in the current regulations. Is this a good excuse? No! That is not a reason for banning anything.
You can find the article here.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
In New Jersey and elsewhere, if a person wanted to enter a profession or a field, one has to be licensed by the state or the federal government. If one wanted to get into, for example, the financial services industry or the real estate industry, one has to be licensed by the state. If one wanted to participate in the import/export business, one has to be licensed by the federal government. If one wanted to braid hair,one,in Washington, D.C., has to be licensed by the local government there. It goes on and on, ad infinitum.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
Over the years, on issues such as abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, euthanasia, infanticide, human experimentation and others, I have been struck by proponents arguments. I mostly been fascinated by the statements and arguments they use, particularly when they state that "You Should Not Legislate Morality," and "Society Cannot Impose Morality." I find these statements and arguments weak and flawed for the reality of the matter is that society and government legislate morality all the time. They legislate little else. The question becomes Whose Morality and What View Of Morality becomes dominant. What it all comes down to is the ideas and the pressure groups involved, and whether or not those pressure groups are strong enough to influence the legislative and executive branches of government.
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- Written by: Lou Jasikoff
- Category: Chair's Report
Fellow Libertarians,
The last few months have been extremely busy and exciting for me as business is really taking off. I have traveled and will continue to travel extensively both domestically and internationally and must apologize for the lack of time I have spent in New Jersey. It is not that I have not been working on projects to promote Liberty because I have, and in fact just this week attended the State Chairs conference in Charleston, South Carolina representing the NJLP. In speaking with other chairs, and reflecting on the last two years as chair, I have come to the conclusion that two years is enough. It is time for a fresh set of eyes to move us forward. In that regard, I will not be seeking reelection as chair. I wanted to give everyone a little heads up before the convention.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Sticky - scroll down for more recent articles.
Tax Day Tea Parties are being planned across the nation. In NJ, Tea Parties are confirmed in Belmar, Flemington, Hackensack, Morristown, Newark, Trenton, and Vineland.
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This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. : April 15th 12:00 AM - 3:00 PM, 16th Avenue Boardwalk. -
Flemington: April 15th, Noon - 2:00 PM. The northwest corner of Main Street and Court Street.
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Hackensack: April 15th, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM. Bergen County Court House.
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Morristown: April 15th Noon, On The Green at the center of Morristown.
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Newark: April 15th, 782 McCarter Highway, Gateway Center One. Lautenberg and Menendez's office. Noon - 6:00 PM.
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Piscataway: April 15th, 5:00 PM. Johnson Park (River Road, Piscataway Township).
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Trenton: April 15th, in front of the State House steps. 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM.
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Vineland: April 15th, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM, 722 E Landis Avenue, Vineland, NJ 08360
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Middletown: July 4th, from 11-1 at 1750 Highway 35 (Arin Park Bldg).
Originally published in 1896 by Frank R. Stockton (1834 - 1902). This was in reference to an event that occurred on December 22nd, 1774 in Greenwich Township, Cumberland County NJ.
At the time when the American colonists began to be restless under the rule of Great Britain, the people of New Jersey showed as strong a desire for independence as those of any other Colony, and they were by no means backward in submitting to any privations which might be necessary in order to assert their principles. As has been said before, the people were prosperous, and accustomed to good living, and it was not likely that there was any part of America in which a cup of well-flavored tea was better appreciated than in New Jersey.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
There are many politicians and others, liberal, "moderate," and conservative, that take the position that if a particular legislative action or policy has failed, the people should judge them by their "good" intentions and not if the action or policy is successful. They will say that their "motives" were "good," That their "idea" was "good,"That their "belief" was "pure," no matter if the policy or action has caused hardships and difficulties for individuals. It is a way to excuse it all and not do much else. This often causes problems for society at large.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
NJ Libertarian Party Members,
On Friday, March 13 at 10:00 PM, John Stossel and ABC News has a special, "Bailouts, Big Spending and Bull." As John put it in his announcement, this special is produced in partnership with Drew Carey and Reason Magazine. Indeed most of the segments are based on videos from Reason.TV.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Selected Blogs
 Michael Beitler (pronounced Bite-ler), Ph.D., CPA, is the host of "Free Markets With Dr. Mike Beitler," a libertarian internet-radio talk show, and the author of Rational Individualism: A Moral Argument for Limited Government & Capitalism. Mike was the CFO of a profitable bank for more than ten years. |
Originally published at Campaign For Liberty
Fannie Mae reported a loss of $25.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008 (losses of $58.7 billion for full-year 2008). Total nonperforming loans were $119.2 billion at year-end. Fannie is requesting additional capital from the U.S Treasury. The other gargantuan government-sponsored enterprise, Freddie Mac is likewise running up billions of dollars in losses. Freddie is preparing to ask for additional capital from the U.S Treasury of $35 billion.
Why should you, the taxpayer, be concerned? Isn't the Federal government using bailout funds allocated by Congress to clean up the mess?
The problem is the Federal government is on the brink of bankruptcy itself. The U.S. government is $11 trillion dollars in debt. (That figure does not include tens of trillions of dollars of off-balance sheet, unfunded liabilities.) Congress has no "money to allocate" to Fannie, Freddie, or anything else. You, the taxpayer, are on the hook for these massive obligations.
Go back to the first paragraph and substitute "additional taxpayer money" for "additional capital."
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Latest News
The convention shall be held on March 28th and 29th. For more information see the Convention Registration page.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: NJ Libertarian Blog
On October 2, 1996 in the “New York Post,” then columnist Carl T. Rowan wrote a piece entitled “Liberal Is Not a Four Letter Word.” In it, he described what it meant to be “a liberal” and what it entailed. After reading it, it just reaffirmed to me that the ideology had nothing to in common with the liberalism of the past. That the ideology was hijacked. Where once liberalism believed in the chains of the Constitution, the limits of power and government, as well as rugged individualism, it, along with the conservatism of the modern variety today, believes in the omnipotence of the state. To me, it was a sad read.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
On February 15, 2009, the Pilesgrove Township (Salem County) Committee introduced an ordinance to repeal parts of The Township's "Peace and Good Order" Code. The ordinance, as introduced, is below and the NJLP's January 19, 2009 letter which requested the repeal is online HERE.
Subcategories
NJ Libertarian Blog
Imported from NJ Libertarian News from the published feed
Videos
This is a page of various videos that we have either created or found interesting. Be sure to check out and follow our YouTube page.
Open Government Advocacy Project
The Open Government Advocacy Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. Articles posted here are a subset of the work of the committee. For more information visit the Open Government Advocacy Project blog.
If you would like to demand accountability and ensure that your local governing body or school board adheres to the Open Public Records Act we can help you request information from them. Contact John Paff, the project chair here.
Insight New Jersey
NJ government is huge and complex. Private industry is shrinking while the size and cost of government bureacracy continues to grow. The articles posted here provide a guide of the NJ State Government and can be used by citizens and candidates for office to evaluate what departments can be reduced drastically in size.
We'll start with just some of the departments and provide a breakdown on what they do (or purport to do), how many employees they have and how big their budget is.
Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project (“the Project”) seeks to get New Jersey municipalities to repeal loitering ordinances that should have been -- but were not -- repealed when the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice was enacted in 1979. The Project has successfully had loitering ordinances repealed in over 30 towns. For a summary listing of all the towns see Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project page.
Police Accountability Project
The Police Accountability Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to search out cases of police misconduct, file former Internal Affairs (IA) complaints when appropriate, and to publicize violations of rules and laws by the police. There may be other stories posted on the NJLP Police Internal Affairs Complaint Blog page.
If you would like to help or know of a case we should be looking at, contact the committee at
Legislative Affairs Committee
The Legislative Affairs Committee was created to allow a select core of Volunteers to take action on legislation and policies which directly affects the people of New Jersey.
[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]
Staff
Legislative Director and Committee Chair
Volunteers: